| Popis: |
The city of Ljubljana was still enclosed by defensive walls in the 18th century. Outside the walls there were poorer quarters and some baroque palaces with private parks. In 1728, the merchant Michelangelo Baron Zois von Edelstein settled within the city walls. He came to wealth through trade, mines and ironworks. His financial means enabled his son Žiga to become the most educated man in Carniola, engaged in natural sciences, but also the most important patron of culture of his time. His mansion in Ljubljana was the centre of Slovenian nationalism and enlightenment for four decades. He paid special attention to the design of the gardens in Ljubljana. Continuing his father's work, he gradually bought up all the houses around his palace on Breg (a district with a river port that became a wholesale district mainly because of the Zois family) and had them demolished or merged with his mansion so that by 1805 it was the largest mansion in the city. In 1774, he bought the southern city wall with a tower. He had the moat filled in and planted a multi-row tree avenue called the Graben Allee or Zoisischer Graben. In 1785, he laid out a private garden between them and the mansion. The garden was called Zwingergarten and also had a public character. In the same year, he created the Zoisische Allee in the suburbs (with a promenade, a park, a botanical garden, a summer riding school, and an amusement park), which he opened to the public in 1789. In this way, he completely changed the appearance of this part of the city and, in a sense, subjugated it. Zois’s economic situation enabled him to change a part of Ljubljana for his own aesthetic pleasure, and also for the pleasure of other citizens of Ljubljana. |
